Silly, Loud, and Stupid
by MellyRoseD
Summary: Of course Kitty Bennet is silly, loud, and stupid. That's what everyone says she is. They must be right. Right? (One-Shot)


Some would say that Kitty Bennet is loud, silly, and stupid. Those people would be wrong. Katherine Bennet, is just loud and silly; in no way was she ever _stupid_. In a household with a mother who was even sillier than her 'dear' sister Lydia, a 'perfect' eldest sister, her father's favorite, and a sister more devout than possibly the pope himself, it was difficult to find a place that she fit in. Her mother loved Lydia far more than the rest of the girls, Lizzie assured Kitty that it was because Lydia was practically her mother but in a younger body. Their father was simply a man who would waste the day away in his study, ignoring all of his children save Lizzie. It only took a year for everything to change.

Longbourne became lonesome for Kitty. Lydia went off and married Mr. Wickham- something that may have excited her earlier in my life, when she was reliant on Lydia for anyone to even give her a smile, but now it just made her flush with anger- she almost ruined the family's entire reputation! No man would have had Kitty, Mary, Lizzie, or even the beautiful Jane! Barely after Lydia's marriage, not one, but two engagements had been announced. Jane was to marry darling Mr. Bingley, and Lizzie was to marry the most disagreeable Mr. Darcy.

She had thought that Lizzie hated him, but even Mary would have been swayed by his dashing appearance and ten thousand pounds a year. Their marriage left poor Kitty with Mary of all people, who spent her time reading scripture and playing the pianoforte. For several months she was very sure she was miserable, and the young woman spent her time sulking in her lonesome room; to her chagrin her father wouldn't let her into society in light of Lydia's stupid actions. Most of the time though, she tried to persuade him or her mother to allow her to go into town- well, more like whining than persuading. It had always given Lydia results, so Kitty had wanted to try her hand at it.

Needless to say, it hadn't worked. So young Katherine tried her hand at the pianoforte, trying to bond with Mary over something, what she hadn't realised how hard the pianoforte would be, and she quickly gave up after a few failed attempts at the simplest notes. Kitty tried many different hobbies, netting purses, painting tables, learning a new language, but only one had made the second youngest Bennet feel like she was actually good. Sketching and drawing soon became the only thing she found herself doing during the day.

Her mama told her she was being useless, that Kitty should be trying to be more like Lydia, Jane, or Lizzie. She did not seem to know what affect that had on her impressionable daughter. Many hours would be spend in front of the looking glass in Kitty's now empty room, with her eyes closed tight, hoping that when she opened them, her hair would be blonde like Jane's, her eyes sparkling like Lizzie, or her smile vivacious like Lyddie's. Then, when the poor girl would open her eyes, instead she would see plain blue, no sparkle, her hair still brown, and her smile still amiable, but plain.

Thankfully for Kitty, after the few months of her lonesomeness, Jane returned to Netherfield and so she practically spent every waking moment in the company of her calm older sibling. Mr. Bingley, or Charles, as he insisted she call him due to being brother and sister, insisted upon finding Kitty someone to further her sketching. She was very glad that Jane married such a kind man. Of course, all good things must come to an end, or so it says. Mr and Mrs. Hurst were to stay with the Bingleys for two weeks, and Kitty dreaded the idea of seeing the pompous and somewhat intimidating elder sister of Caroline Bingley.

Imagine Kitty's surprise, when she saw Mrs. Hurst and realised that she was not intimidating, not even one whit! Kitty had grown somewhat taller in the past few months, and had grown in confidence, so now when Kitty saw that Mrs. Hurst was just a young, quiet woman. Even in height, Mrs. Hurst was barely up to Jane's nose, but Jane was actually quite tall, thankfully Mr. Bingley was taller. It was one awkward afternoon that Jane had to go attend to some estate emergency that the silly girl was left alone with Mrs. Hurst. For the first few moments, no words were spoken, until Kitty decided to end this silence, and bravely announced that she believed Mrs. Hurts outfit to be lovely and completely in fashion.

That was all it took for their awkward acquaintance to turn into a full blown friendship. So much was it that Kitty only came to Netherfield for the next week for the sole reason of visiting Louisa to talk about fashion, drawing, and gossip. Jane was surprised, Mr. Bingley was confused, and Mr. Hurst seemed just as sleepy as usual. When Louisa had to leave, Kitty once again bemoaned how lonely she would be, but it was for naught, because barely a fortnight after her new and wonderful friend had departed, she received a letter in the mail from Lizzie!

With trembling hands, Kitty had read the letter. By the time she had finished reading it, she had been shrieking in joy, jumping up and down, looking around, and then proceeding to giggle loudly. Her papa had been quite put out by the young girl's display, saying that she was turning quite silly again, but it had been in jest, which excited Kitty very much, for her papa had never jested with her. After a month of preparation, she finally was off to Pemberley, Lizzie's beautiful new home. Kitty knew that her mama was quite jealous, and so she revelled in it somewhat, knowing that _she _was the first of the sisters besides Jane to see Lizzie's new home.

In truth, the simple girl hadn't been expecting such a grand estate! From what her mama had told her, she had known that Mr. Darcy was rich, but neither of them had known the extent of it, and she was almost dizzy from the realisation of how much money Lizzie must have. Meeting Miss Darcy was an interesting thing, the lady being shy and somewhat awkward, Kitty didn't understand why though, Miss Darcy was beautiful, rich, well-bred, and well learned.

Once again, friendship bloomed, and Kitty had realised that without Lydia, she had made plenty of her own friends that actually enjoyed being with her. It was a liberating experience, knowing that she didn't need her noisy sister to be happy. Mr. Darcy also surprised her, for he purchased Kitty (who was thinking of going by Katherine instead) several new gowns! She had been so happy that she hadn't known what to do other than curtsy, and say in her most refined voice, "I thank you Sir, for the kindness you've shown me." What happened next surprised her even more than his giving her dresses.

He laughed. The disagreeable Mr. Darcy began to laugh, shaking his head and laughing, Lizzie had joined in, and then Kitty knew that this marriage hadn't been all she had thought it was. Lizzie informed her that there was to be an assembly the next week (which they would attend for Kitty's benefit,) followed by a ball at their neighbor's house, followed by a ball of their own. Much to her embarrassment she almost had a fit of nerves at that very second from her excitement.

The evening of the assembly, she decided to wear a sky blue gown, that both Georgiana and Lizzie said looked lovely with her eyes. Of course, Kitty still felt inferior to Georgiana, who wore a gown of light pink, and to Lizzie who wore an expensive gown of olive green. Their group arrived in a timely manner, and like always Kitty was excited to meet new people. She hardly stopped smiling all night! That was the night that she met Mr. Nott, a clergyman, a handsome clergyman. He had been tall, with broad shoulders, sparkling green eyes, and brown hair. She had been pleasantly surprised that he was so handsome, her only vision of a clergyman was the horrible Mr. Collins!

Mr. Nott had asked Kitty to dance twice, and she was effusive in her joy, she was also very confused as to why he would want to dance with _her_. But by the end of the night, she assumed he would go home and forget all about her. Apparently it was not to be, because when Kitty, Georgiana, and Lizzie were sipping tea and discussing the events of the night before, a footman announced that he was making a call to the Darcy House.

Kitty didn't know everything about propriety, so she wasn't quite sure if this was a breach of it or not, but she was excited anyways. Surprisingly, Kitty found that she quite enjoyed his conversation, even if on the occasion he reminded her of Mary and her sermons. When his time was up, and he had departed, Georgiana immediately dragged her friend off to her private sitting rooms and the two of them gossiped for the rest of the evening.

It seemed that each event Kitty went to was even more splendor-filled than the last. For when they went to a ball a fortnight after the assembly, Mr. Nott was there again! The two of them had danced the first set, and the supper set together. For some reason though, Mr. Darcy kept a close eye on Kitty all evening. She just thought he thought Mr. Nott to be inferior in connection. Once more, Mr. Nott began to call on her, and Kitty was flattered, but still quite confused. He hadn't seemed to favor her until then, why would he? She wondered to herself. Kitty thought she wasn't lovely like Jane, nor witty like Lizzie, she wasn't outgoing like Lydia, and she _surely _wasn't as accomplished as Georgiana. Kitty wasn't even as pious as Mary! So what in the world would a handsome man like him want with a girl like her?

This bought of contemplation and dislike of herself went into the following week, when the Darcy's were throwing a ball of their own. The contemplative girl wore a gown of bright yellow, which hid her self doubt and confusion with a false happiness. Kitty's self doubt only increased as she talked to Mr. Nott in a corner of the ballroom, which was so grand she was sure her mama would have been screaming about it at the top of her lungs to Mrs. Lucas on her next visit.

Four women, all of them of various ages were a few feet away, whispering with one another. It wasn't until both Mr. Nott and Kitty realised who they were talking about did they realise the females had no idea we were in earshot. "Mrs. Darcy may smile vulgarly, but since she is Mrs. Darcy, she is allowed to. Her younger sister- the one with the name of an animal, Kitty, I believe smiles far too much, and she isn't one tenth as accomplished as Miss Darcy or even Mrs. Darcy, it's a wonder she was allowed into Pemberley."

Mr. Nott stared at Kitty in horror for a moment, and she felt her eyes fill with hot shameful tears, unlike the old Kitty, she didn't want to cause a scene and seem unladylike, but at that moment the fragile girl wanted nothing more than to cry. Despite being shy, and quite impassive, Mr. Nott said in such a loud voice that the women were startled, "Miss Katherine, if I may be so bold, I believe your smile is the prettiest in all of Derbyshire, perhaps all of England."

The women all flushed red, realising their faux pas quickly, before turning to leave. Their path though, was blocked by a couple- the Master and Mistress of the house! Lizzie looked amused, and Mr. Darcy's eyes were dark and his lips set in a firm line. These women were not adept at gossiping if they couldn't even see the objects of their discussion were close enough to hear.

It was on that night that Kitty was asked by Mr. Nott if he could court her- he had already written to her papa with the help of Mr. Darcy. Kitty accepted, hesitantly, sure that he would eventually realise his mistake and run off with Mary the moment he met her. But he didn't, and yet she was still confused, he was around Georgiana all the time too, and his eyes always rested on Kitty.

Lizzie confided in Kitty that she was sure he was in love with her. Kitty eventually wrote to Maria Lucas, and she wrote back the exact same thing as Lizzie had told her . Apparently he was in love, but Kitty had guarded her heart more than she thought she ever would when it came to feelings. Maybe seeing Jane and Lizzie in such happy marriages made her want that for herself. Or maybe she didn't want to end up as poor as spit like Lydia- whose letters had already began to get increasingly sad as she asked Kitty for her meager pin-money.

Kitty had been at Pemberley for four and a half months and she had known Mr. Nott for four months when he asked her for her hand in marriage. She hadn't been expecting it, especially seeing as he had disappeared for three days before asking her. He told Kitty that he had gone to Longbourn to ask for her hand, and that is why he hadn't been able to call on her. Instead of instantly accepting, Kitty had paused, staring at him in confusion. On one knee, he looked so hopeful, so excited, he was still so tall on one knee, at that moment she realized he was taller than Mr. Darcy while standing.

In his proposal, he had told her many things about herself that she hadn't understood. Calling her beautiful, telling her that she was a ray of sunshine in his life, that he would spend the rest of his life proving to her that he was worth her time. It wasn't the empty compliments the officers would give Lydia and Kitty, to try to earn a kiss or two, (something Kitty would _never _participate in, but Lydia adored.) It was loving and completely sincere. The more she thought of it like that, the more Kitty realised she too loved him.

So she accepted. He brushed his lips over her knuckles, and she swore that her heart had stopped. The next few weeks passed in a whirlwind and the next thing Kitty knew she was in a wedding gown, walking down the aisle, with Andrew Nott waiting for her. She married him, and Kitty finally felt exceedingly happy.

Some would say Kitty was silly, loud, and oh so completely in love, and if you asked Katherine Nott, she would agree full heartedly.


End file.
